Never before has the free speech zone been utilized so effectively. And never before has the notion of respect been so effectively demonstrated on campus.

As a cool breeze blew under a cloudy sky south of Parks Library, members of ISU’s Black Student Alliance and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Alliance gathered for two separate rallies Monday afternoon.

About 100 people, mainly black students, gathered on the library steps. About 60 people, clad in shirts emblazoned with the slogan “It’s Okay With Me,” stood around a podium on the grass east of the Hub.

The rallies, commemorating National Coming Out Days and Black Love Week, were planned to be held separately. But both happened to converge at the same time and place.

This could have been a recipe for disaster, but instead became a lesson of tolerance and acceptance for both groups.

When BSA members sang the James Weldon Johnson-penned “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” known as the black national anthem, LGBT students and allies stood and listened.

When five ally activists spoke of their reasons for supporting ISU’s LGBT community — one ally even coming out herself as bisexual — BSA members listened with respect.

And when the Marching Cyclones Drill Team performed and members of black fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha gave a step show, everyone applauded.

Taking turns speaking into the microphone were BSA President Sarai Arnold and LGBTAA President Julia McGinley. Arnold called the convergence of the two rallies “a fortunate coincidence.”

McGinley agreed, and gave BSA members credit for the success of the rallies.

“Neither … could have happened without the other stopping to give support,” McGinley said.

“Increasing diversity” is a popular university catchphrase these days, a catchphrase that sometimes rings hollow with ISU’s minority communities, especially after last year’s unfortunate anti-gay graffiti on campus buildings and reports of hate speech directed at African students in Campustown in July.

But Monday’s events were a positive sign for the future of diversity and tolerance on the ISU campus. For an hour Monday, all was well on the ISU campus, at least in the free speech zone.